Will the warmth win or wane?

During the past few days the UK has been graced with something that has been alien to our shores this summer – high pressure. It’s brought practically all places sunshine and warmth, with temperatures widely in the low to mid 20s celsius.

However, with the weekend upon us, the big question is: will the fine weather continue? The main message is that some places are likely to cling on to the fine weather longer than others.

The high pressure that has been sitting over us this week is about to be nudged out of the way by the jet stream – nibbling away at its western periphery, eventually bringing a succession of weather fronts in from the Atlantic.

This process will be gradual though, so the weekend is by no means a write-off. In fact, for quite a few places, the dry and fine weather will remain for Sunday as well.

Saturday

For most places on Saturday it’ll be another pleasant day with sunny spells. There’ll be a little more cloud at times for eastern coasts of England and Scotland, but still fairly bright.

The most notable change will be for Cornwall, Pembrokeshire and the Isles of Scilly where, through the day, the cloud will increase and some showers develop.

Generally, it won’t be as warm as Friday because there’ll be a brisk south easterly breeze, but still pleasant. Temperatures for much of the UK will be in the range of 19-25C, with the coolest conditions for coastal areas.

Sunday

The showers will affect more places on Sunday, with Northern Ireland, Wales and the western half of England likely to see some – possibly heavy.

For the rest of the UK, it looks mainly dry with some sunshine, although some North Sea facing coasts could hang on to some mist and low cloud. Temperatures will also come down a notch, with a range of 18-23C.

At the moment, there is a low risk of a shower for the closing ceremony of the Olympics in the evening, but it’s still uncertain, so keep an eye on the Channel 4 Weather website for the latest forecast.

Next week

The jet stream looks set to become more active again into next week and dive to the south of the UK, putting us in the firing line for a series of low pressure systems.

This means that the weather will become more unsettled again, with showers or longer spells of rain, often accompanied by a brisk wind.

Whilst most of us won’t like the sound of that, the sailors taking part in Cowes Week might. There’ll be plenty of wind of varying directions through the week which will make for some pretty challenging sailing conditions.

Perseid meteor shower

If, like me, you like to stare at the sky, then the annual Perseid meteor shower is taking place this weekend, with a peak of activity during Saturday and Sunday night.

Clear spells are expected for much of the UK, which means that there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll spot something. There’ll also be some residual warmth from the daytime, so it shouldn’t be too chilly either.

If you manage to capture anything on camera, feel free to send me your pictures on Twitter – @liamdutton